Reality Check: Server Insights : ProLiant

New products and solutions built for extreme scale computing environments introduced at Supercomputing 09 conference (SCO9)

Kristie Popp — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:01:00 GMT

By Erin Collopy

This week, HP’s high-performance computing (HPC) team lands in Portland for the annual Supercomputing 09 conference (SCO9), where they’ll be meeting with loads of customers, partners, press and industry analysts to discuss the hot new technologies and trends in HPC.

To coincide with SC09, HP announced a whole host of new products and solutions built for extreme scale computing environments, including 2 powerful new ProLiant servers which are on display at the event.

The HP ProLiant BL2x220c G6 is an updated version of the innovative 2-in1 blade server that HP introduced last year. Delivering the compute power of 2 blade servers in the physical space of 1, the BL2x220 is perfect for HPC environments who are not only focused on maximum performance, but who are also often hitting the wall in terms of physical floor space and/or power. It has 33 percent higher memory capacity than the previous generation and delivers excellent energy efficiency.

The first AMD processor based SL-server, the HP ProLiant SL165z G6 uses HP’s innovative “skinless” system architecture built on a lightweight rail and tray design to dramatically reduce capital, facilities and shipping costs while using a fraction of the space normally required within a data center. The SL165z’s ultra-efficient, modular design lowers server power consumption by18% and costs by 10%.

Come by HP’s SC09 booth 1025 at SC09 in Portland this week and be among the first to get hands-on with these hot new servers.

HP - VMworld Platinum Sponsor: virtualize your infrastructure

Kristie Popp — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:08:00 GMT

HP is showcasing our latest virtualization solutions at VMworld 2009 in San Francisco (Aug 31-Sept 3).

Not enough money to attend this dedicated virtualization event? Conference passes are available until August 30th at $1495 for a full conference pass. To register using the HP discount code, go to http://www.vmworld.com/registration.jspa and use code HPEB2009. One day passes are not available. The onsite registration fee is normally $1895. And hey - EMC is just giving a $250 discount!

Attendees in the HP booth will be invited to take the steps along the path to a creating a virtualized Infrastructure. Talk to our HP experts about cost savings with our storage and network solutions, made-for-virtualization G6 servers, and energy-efficient HP Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

Of course, everyone searches out all the tchotchkes right away. HP won’t disappoint with daily give-a-ways of t-shirts and Starbucks cards plus a $2,000 AmEx card drawing on Wednesday and instant prizes for those spotted wearing the HP t-shirt, and HP Netbooks!! Be sure to come by the HP booth and throw your name in the ring.

In addition to a Super Session Keynote by Ann Livermore, Mark Potter, and Robb Rasmussen (see the Tuesday morning session below), HP will drive a total of 9 additional sessions covering everything from VMware Site Recovery to virtualization-aware management and security. Abstracts for the sessions can be found here: https://vmworld2009.wingateweb.com/scheduler/catalog/catalog.jsp

vSphere 4 labs – featuring 4 blades racks and additional storage
Attendee email stations featuring HP Thin Clients and HP ProLiant servers
VCP Testing area – with HP desktops
Additional HP hardware can be found in the VMware booth, Intel Booth and AMD booth.
HP hardware on-stage or running a demo featured in Paul Maritz and Ann Livermore’s keynotes

We have lots more happening at VMworld – check out www.hp.com/go/vmworld for the latest updates. During the event, on this site, we will also share all the latest blogs and Twitter conversations and other social media sites where HP is creating buzz around the show.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) upgraded their entire IT infrastructure to HP ProLiant servers

Kristie Popp — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:44:00 GMT

By Steve Gillaspy, Group Manager, HP BladeSystem Product Team

Today, HP announced that Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) upgraded their entire IT infrastructure to HP ProLiant servers.

To date, CTCA has deployed more than 500 HP ProLiant rack and blade servers as part of a major infrastructure overhaul designed to increase system performance, uptime and reliability – all of which are critical to delivering the best patient care. In particular, HP is working with CTCA and the healthcare industry, to help streamline the industries’ migration to electronic health records from the legacy, paper-based records systems previously used. Electronic health records have been shown to improve patient care by increasing overall treatment efficiencies while reducing opportunities for human errors.

CTCA’s unique treatment approach combines the best traditional medical treatment with scientifically supported therapies aimed at helping patients better manage side effects, strengthen their immune systems and improve their quality of life during treatment. For almost 30 years, CTCA has been on the leading edge of advanced cancer treatment and serves patients with advanced cancer from all 50 states, and around the world, at facilities located in suburban Chicago, Philadelphia, Tulsa (Okla.), and suburban Phoenix.

Read today’s media advisory here.

Learn more about Cancer Treatment Centers of America here.

Have you recently upgraded your IT infrastructure to HP? Tell us your story.

Estimating power consumption?

Kristie Popp — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:18:00 GMT

Need to estimate power consumption and proper selection of components? Check out the HP Power Advisor. Other features are also provided including a condensed bill of materials, a cost of owner ship calculator, and a power report.

Reduce power consumption with ProLiant right-size power supplies. In HP’s latest generation of ProLiant servers, power is both critical and flexible. With the new HP Power Advisor you can measure power usage as you configure servers and racks in a downloadable tool.

The tool is so easy to use, drag & drop with an intuitive interface and configure away.

Just released a new update: Now including the NEW ProLiant SL6000 system!

New features will be released soon including the addition of the HP BladeSystem c3000 and c7000. Follow the updates and other news on Twitter, @hppoweradvisor.

Check out the HP Power Advisor now.

Have you used this tool? Tell us your story. What are you seeking in a power advisory tool that we are currently not providing?

The ProLiant Collection at HPTF 2009 - 25 platforms in 73 days

Kristie Popp — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:05:00 GMT

HPTF showcased an overwhelming amount of demos, sessons, cool techies stuff everywhere you looked. Twitter crept into the scene this year with ten monitors showcasing all of the tweet buzz. ProLiant was certainly shouted about from every corner. One shout that caught my attention was the ProLiant Collection released 25 platforms in 73 days! I heard one key competitor released 6 in that time frame. ProLiant delivering on all three technology advances: performance, efficiencies, and cost savings - serious improvements in all three areas, each without compromising the other.

        Over the past 73 days ProLiant released:
               - 3 new SL6000 Family Servers, introduced at the show
               - 2 new DL1000 Family Intel Servers
               - HP BladeSystem Matrix
               - 13 new Intel G6 Nehalem Servers
               - 7 new AMD G6 Instanbul Servers

Key take-aways on the SL6000

HP’s Doug Tucker walked me through the features of the SL line in easy terms. The SL features front-end cabling and easy serviceability – just pull out the tray. The 2U design supports 2 expansion trays. With the SL,you have a good choice of mix & match configs.

HP ProLiant SL160z G6

HP ProLiant SL170z G6

HP ProLiant SL2x170zG6

Max expansion: 18 DIMM slots and 2 PCIe slots
Large memory – memory cache apps

Max storage: Up to 6 hard drives - Large Storage – Web search and database apps

Features internal storage, 6 LFF hard drives, way beyond a 1U. Half-width board with no loss in features

Max density: 2xP servers in 1U
High dense – HPC computing and web front-end apps

Doug pointed out the SL2x170z is a grat choice when you need to deploy a lot more servers - four servers in a 2U, 2x the density, 4 fans versus needing 20, only need 1 power supply (can have 2).

Tweets from the floor:

keesdenhartigh: #hptf How is the new ProLiant SL family different? The lowest possible cost and energy, delivering exactly what scale-out customers need

markfontecchio: Video demo of HP's new ProLiant SL servers at the HP Tech Forum in Vegas http://bit.ly/awbNw (expand) #hptf

Rich_Palmer: #hptf - SL line is percieved to offer the greatest opportunity to Vfarms, HPC and massive scale WEB farms.

Check out more info on the SL6000 product choices

Key take-aways on the DL1000

“Powerful, dense & versatile” – states Christina Tiner from HP. This family delivers improved density, power efficiency & cost. It has similar features of the new SL line. The DL1000 for 10-100 servers, SL for 10000s of servers.

Christina mentions customers are looking to the DL1000 for virtualization deployments in a 2U, as well as for HPC environments. The DL1000 is great for 2 -3 workgroups with little space, for general purpose apps, space saving deployments - good consolidation in a traditional rack mount setting. This family is also more flexible than SL – IO expansion, 3PCI slots, graphics controllers.

See the video with Christina Tiner showing the new DL1000 Multi-Node Server at the HP Tech Forum, see how the DL1000 allows the user to put 4 server nodes in single 2U chassis.

Tweets from the floor:

hogbiker: The HP DL1000 Servers are some pretty rockin' technology! I can see these for lots of applications for our customers. #HPTF

Check out more info on the DL1000 product choices

Key take-aways on the HP BladeSystem Matrix

Check out Jason Newton’s blog The future is coming into focus …and BladeSystem Matrix is your lens.

Whether you were at HPTF or not, please let us know your thoughts on the latest ProLiant releases by commenting here. We are listening.

Now I get the HP POD. See what we are learning at the HP Tech Forum 2009 POD demos, sessions & tours

Kristie Popp — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:06:00 GMT

The HP POD (Performance Optimized Datacenter) is stealing the show at the HP Tech Forum 2009. The POD is set up and you can tour the POD, talk to the experts and also see the power house running the POD. Kevin Egan & Steve Cumings from HP are informative, graciously answering all questions and helping us to all fully grasp the coolness of the HP POD.

Here is a quick overview of the HP POD in plain English by Jason Newton:

Hp Pod In Plain English Hptf

Here are the technical slides from Kevin Egan's technical break out session:

HP POD Containerized Data Center

Some quick take-away points:

HP POD solves the customer challenges:

Capacity Limitations
More energy efficiency needed
Increased pressures on capital expenses

Highlights:

HP can ship the POD fully loaded in six weeks
Lower operating expenses – more efficient
22 racks 50U high --- 11000U in 40x9 container
POD cools the IT… closely coupled cooling. NO mixing of hot & cold air.
Usually cool whole datacenter or certain areas.. not as efficient.
HP’s highest density – non proprietary too.
HP can cater to extreme hot or cold temperatures. Plumbing is the issue – keeping temps right.
The POD is powered by ActivePower www.activepower.com. Partner with HP for the power house – Flywheel, 600Lbs spinning away! They also had a very cool tour. See Jason Newton’s POD in plain English tour above for info & photos from the tours.
Questions on security always come up. Can someone drive away my datacenter? Someone would reaaalllly want to do this, as the POR averages 100,000 lbs. Would need 007 to pull that off. Just get the regular security in place.
HP is investing heavily in POD technology & structure. 20FT version coming out in Q4. At the Houston Campus, they are building out 5 in a spine. HP has a full roadmap for the POD. The PODs offer a huge opportunity to defer capital expenses
One customer has as a totally remote using iLO – only stepping in to make upgrades, change out any hardware.
TCO Comparison available. Kevin’s team would be abile to run this for customers. Contact them here.

All companies have the same problems. Who are the POD customers?

Capacity expansion 40%
Scale out 30%
Disaster Recovery 10%
Transitional 10%
Military & Custom 10%

Lastly: Every HP POD conversation goes to people wanting to live in it!!!

Key quotes from our Featured Bloggers at Tech Forum on the HP POD:

"I think a lot of us drool at the processing and storage capacity potential that the POD represents, but there are a lot of other factors that make the POD a serious, almost no-brainer contender when planning for a datacenter solution."

Shane Pitman , from his blog Neowin, HP Technology Forum & Expo POD tour

"Adding to the list of pluses provided by an HP POD solution are the POD's expandability and configuration options. With space for 22 50U full-depth industry standard racks, the configuration options are enormous. Want all storage? No problem. Want all blades? Can do. Already have the technology but just looking for a better housing solution? HP will ship you an empty POD with the racks, power, and cooling infrastructure in place, ready for your existing hardware, and not just HP hardware. The HP POD will support any third party technology."

Shane Pitman, from his blog Neowin, read more at HP Technology Forum & Expo POD tour

I will post more pics in the next few days of the POD too.

Let us know your thoughts & impressions on the HP POD. Are you ready for a mobile data center?

Ramblings of a displaced Englishman – A layman’s view of Tech Forum 2009

Kristie Popp — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:45:00 GMT

By Chris Purcell

Interesting first impressions arriving at Las Vegas international airport – chipper, excited people arriving, to a lot of blearing, tired people leaving. This is my fist opportunity to visit HP Tech Forum which is being held at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas – which has attracted over 3,000 attendees this year and serves as HP’s premier technology showcase in the USA.

The opening keynotes started around 4.30 local time with Tom Ianotti (SVP, TSG Americas) opening for Ann Livermore (EVP TSG), who provided her famous integrated HP address tying in the total company in as a service. She presented well and was well received by the audience. She provided some great sound bites like HP is selling 11 servers a minute more than any other company on the planet. She was followed by Paul Miller (ESS, VP of marketing) that focused in on wrapping the HP enterprise, servers and storage together. His theme was clearly around where other companies see a form-factor, HP sees convergence to deliver everything as a service. One of the points that I really liked was when he was describing Matrix – a new Blade System offering that was recently released in April. Paul described it as a “private cloud network in a box – applies to economics, scalability and response time of cloud computing to any application, in-house.

The last keynote was from Prith Banerjee (SVP of HP Labs) who stole my imagination with his presentation on HP labs and the amazing work they are doing. Everything from Cloud computing and providing everything as a service (– Billions of users, millions of services, thousands of service providers, millions of servers, exabytes of data and terabytes of traffic.) To, Analytics (– an application of mathematic and scientific methodologies created better run business.) I will be really interesting to see if it really is fact or fiction. Time will tell, but it was great to see Lab provide this very exciting show-and-tell.

There was a great opportunity to “meet and greet” show attendees in the expo from 6.00 through 8.00 pm, during which time I had a chance to talk to Scott Anderson (HP, VP of marketing for TSG) and discussed social media and where he see this heading. He had some great insights and opinions mentioned some interesting opportunities that lay ahead for HP. More to follow.

Also, I had a chance to tour the HP POD (Performance Optimized Datacenter) – something I find fascinating. The POD on display at the show had two new SL units (SL 6000’s) stowed aboard which were attracting a certain amount of attention. It also had the utilities vehicle parked along side which I had not seen before, but will explore further.

The evening ended for me going to a “Tweetup” which was my first ever. Essentially all the Twiterers at the show having an opportunity to meet each other in person. Quite a few folks had turned up and it was great to meet people in person. Met with a lot of members of the Connect community – who I will talk to more during the show, along with Calvin Zito @hpstorageguy who is an avid blogger and Twitterer. Twitter is being heavily promoted at the show this year, which is a great utility for no participants to keep up with daily activity at the show. I found a great landing page which captures most of the event activities – check it out at www.hp.com/go/HPTF-buzz.

So All-in-all it was a really interesting first day...it is great to be here and hopefully I will be able to provide more layman’s view of the HP Tech Forum 2009. Stay tuned.

HPTF 2009: "What happens in Vegas doesn't have to stay in Vegas!!" Stay connected.

Kristie Popp — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:54:00 GMT

Traveling to the show? Share with us your experiences. Can't travel? Stay tuned to this web site for the latest info.

At Tech Forum (June 16 - 18 in Las Vegas) HP will showcase its premier enterprise computing solutions. The event will feature daily keynote speakers, presentations and booth demos. If travel restrictions are preventing you to attend in person, you still have the opportunity participate. Via a dedicated website that includes a wide range of tools, HP will provide access to summary videos of selected keynote presentations and demos. See this year's choices of topics at the event & expo.

"What happens in Vegas doesn't have to stay in Vegas!!" Check www.hp.com/go/HPTF-buzz for all the info on the HP Tech Forum 2009 for servers, storage and software. Share with us what you are seeing and experiencing on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Slideshare, upload your photos to Flicker and videos to YouTube.

More blog info coming from the show including lists of the "top threes" from the event. Please also feel free to comment on the site www.hp.com/go/HPTF-buzz to help us give you the info you want. Likes, dislikes?

“Skinless” servers designed for extreme scale, built on standards

Kristie Popp — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 01:08:00 GMT

By John Gromala, director, product marketing, Industry Standard Servers, HP

Today, HP introduced our first addition to the HP ProLiant line since the 2001 introduction of blade servers with the new extreme scale ProLiant SL-family.

This addition marks a very important inflection point in the industry as more companies adopt very large scale data centers to support their businesses. We're talking about datacenters with thousands --to tens of thousands of nodes here --a segment of data center customer we're calling Extreme Scale-out (ExSO). These customers are the Web giants (search, Web 2.0, etc.) or more traditional businesses in the high-performance computing and enterprise realm. For both, IT is a key enabler of their business and is directly linked to the product or service they deliver to customers (whether it be delivering online applications or digital crash simulations).

Traditionally, these customers have been limited to one-off custom designs or proprietary offerings to meet their needs. Metrics like performance per watt per square foot are the name of the game for these guys. Every dollar spent for power, operations or server acquisition impacts business profitability.

Enter the new HP ProLiant SL6000 Scalable System, which uses a "skinless" systems architecture that replaces the traditional chassis with an extremely lightweight rail and tray design – all based on industry standards.

SL customers use 2U a z6000 chassis that leverages shared power and fans to maximize energy efficiencies and can mix-and-match between 3 new SL servers optimized for very specific ExSO workloads:

1. · HP ProLiant SL2x170z G6 delivers high-density compute with two servers in each 1U tray for highly dense applications such as high-performance computing and web front-end applications.

2. · HP ProLiant SL160z G6 delivers increased memory with 18 dual, in-line memory module (DIMM) slots and up to two peripheral component interconnect (PCI) slots, making it ideal for large memory-cache apps.

3. · HP ProLiant SL170z G6 delivers the greatest storage capacity with up to six large form-factor Serial ATA (SATA) or serial-attached SCSI (SAS) hard drives. The server is ideal for large storage applications such as web search and database applications.

These new ProLiant SL servers join HP’s existing ProLiant DL (rack), ML (tower) and BL (blade) servers. Learn more about ProLiant Servers here.

Jump right to information on the HP’s new Extreme Scale-out (ExSO) portfolio here.

Read more about HP's ExSO portfolio in today's press release here.

Doubling Down

s_mathur — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:44:00 GMT

In blackjack, if you have a great hand versus the house, you can double your bet or “double down” to show the confidence that you have in winning it all. HP’s commitment to our new Six-Core AMD Opteron™ processor is a clear signal that our technology partnership is strong, and the products are even stronger.

In today’s economic environment, customers can’t afford to make anything other than a safe bet. They are concerned about energy efficiency, performance and manageability – these are the keys to getting the most out of IT investments. With the new HP ProLiant G6 servers, based on Six-Core AMD Opteron processors, HP is increasing the capabilities of their award-winning ProLiant product line. Seven new models feature an uncompromising six-core processor that is designed for outstanding performance while still working within the same power and thermal ranges of existing HP servers based on our quad-core family.

We’ve written over and over again that consistency is critical for our customers. In large data centers, having consistency of platforms provides a huge benefit for customers, helping to turn the complexity of managing thousands of devices into a much easier task. From managing to servicing, if you can reduce the complexity and variance of the platforms, you can reduce the costs. And who wants to spend more in management costs? Especially with the business constraints of today’s market bearing down on you.

While we strive for consistency in our processors, we also offer a no-compromise approach to the products. Some in the industry may artificially limit the capabilities of the processors for marketing reasons, but we believe that keeping a consistent set of features from the top of the line down to the lowest option helps customers better manage their platforms. And, when it comes to planning, you know exactly what you are getting, from I/O to memory to cache – making it far easier to plan for your deployment needs.

HP takes the consistency concept a step further. The G6 servers have a common set of features, regardless of the processor, that allow us to cleanly integrate our technology into their platforms and bring the customer a unified product offering that makes it easier to make HP the clear choice for the data center.

From the “Sea of Sensors” to help manage the systems, to the commonality across power supplies and even the HP ProLiant Onboard Administrator, managing an HP server becomes a simple, and most importantly, repeatable activity. This helps drive more consistency in the data center and allows you to maximize your critical IT resources.

We’re also very excited about the new levels of performance that customers will see with a Six-Core AMD Opteron processor, and a great compliment to that is the new 6GB/second SAS drives that, when combined with the HP Smart Array controllers, allow the I/O subsystem to keep pace with all of those cores. Combining that with our new HT Assist feature is expected to bring an unprecedented level of I/O and memory throughput for AMD-based ProLiant servers.

With all of this new performance, we haven’t pushed the power consumption up, allowing the new six-core processors to work in the same power and thermal ranges as their four-core counterparts. If your goal is to get the most out of your data center while keeping a “green IT” focus, this is the product for you.

There is no greater compliment than being chosen as the cornerstone of a great platform, and with the new G6 servers, there are seven new reasons for customers to choose HP ProLiant G6 servers featuring AMD Opteron processors, each a winning hand for solving today’s IT challenges without breaking the bank.

In Vegas you “double down” when you have a great hand against the house, and it is clear that, with all of these new platforms coming to market, HP saw the great hand that we were dealing with the new six-core processors and doubled down as well.

John Fruehe is the Director of Business Development for Server/Workstation products at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.

Unleashing the power of six-cores with AMD Istanbul

s_mathur — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:26:00 GMT

By Paul Gottsegen, Vice-president, Integrated Marketing, Enterprise Servers & Storage, HP

Today, AMD is introducing their new Six-Core AMD Opteron "Istanbul" processors. For our customers, the performance gains of AMD's new chip combined with the innovations around energy efficiency, virtualization and management of our new ProLiant G6 platform will enable them to get more value from every IT dollar they spend.

We are really excited about Istanbul and you can bet that we'll be introducing new AMD-based rack, tower and blade servers in very short order. We could have just dropped the new chip in to existing servers, but that wouldn't have allowed our customers to take full advantage of the power of Istanbul. So, instead you'll see that we've innovated around Istanbul to deliver systems that lead the industry on price/performance.

The performance gains and power efficiency of these new ProLiant G6 systems can also have a significant impact on the bottom line. In fact, replacing the single-core systems with new ProLiant G6 systems, customers can see a pay-back on their investment of right around 3-months. This is due to the combination of lower energy bills, increased computing capability of each server and fewer software licenses required to do the same amount of work.

AMD's execution was nothing short of flawless. Once again, they delivered ahead of schedule. And right around the corner you'll see a full suite of Istanbul server products from HP.

HP Delivers Industry-first Management Capabilities for Microsoft System Center

aimeeschoaf — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:29:00 GMT

By Lorre Bumgardner, Product Manager - HP Platforms/Partner management

Monday, April 27th marked a significant milestone in our 20+ year relationship with Microsoft. We are very excited about the news -- we launched the Insight Control suite for Microsoft System Center (ICE-SC) at Microsoft Management Summit. The first product of its kind, ICE-SC delivers a complete hardware infrastructure management solution directly in the System Center consoles.

What do I mean by "complete?" For example, "complete" to HP means things like total remote control (iLO), deep insight into ProLiant platforms, proactive virtual machine management (PRO pack), automated deployment (OSD), and power and performance management of the HP server infrastructure. Priced at $549 per managed server and backed by 24x7 support with free software updates, ICE-SC radically simplifies the management experience for HP customers who have standardized on Microsoft System Center. There's even an upgrade for current iLO Advanced customers priced at just $289.

Why now, and why charge for this functionality, you may ask? HP knows that most other server vendors are providing some of this functionality, such as OSD and PRO packs, for free. But HP's approach is to offer a complete, robust solution rather than just basic functionality that won't do everything our customers need. In addition to staying very close to our customer base, we've done a lot of research to determine what HP can do to make life simpler for the people who use our products. ICE-SC is the result of significant feedback from customers, extensive research and more than a year of working with the folks at Microsoft on development.

The "easy" approach would be to deliver minimal integration value, throw our management packs up on our web site and leave our customers to their own devices when it comes to support. But that's not the HP approach. While we'll continue to deliver basic management packs free of charge for SCOM and SCCM updates, we're confident that our customers who need more advanced functionality like automated deployment and virtual machine management expect more, because we've done our homework. You can learn more about this exciting new product at: www.hp.com/go/ICESystemCenter, or come visit us if you happen to be attending MMS!

Buying an HP ProLiant Server Bundled with the Insight Control Suite Just Got Easier

aimeeschoaf — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:33:00 GMT

By John Schmitz

On March 30, we announced our new G6 line of HP ProLiant servers - built for performance and reliability. These servers, which run the HP Insight Control suite, are the industry's best managed x86 servers. HP Insight Control suite, popularly known as "ICE," provides essential infrastructure management capabilities for system administrators who need to save time, reduce complexity, and lower the costs associated with day-to-day server administration.

The HP Insight Control suite (ICE) delivers an essential set of management capabilities including: (1) rapid server deployment, (2) proactive server health management, (3) the ability to optimize server power, and (4) server remote control from anywhere. ICE delivers this robust set of management capabilities with our award-winning HP Systems Insight Manager tool which is available for both Windows and Linux-based environments

And, in an effort to make the HP Insight Control suite easier for our customers to buy, HP now offers ICE bundled with select HP ProLiant DL360 G6 and DL380 G6 models. These offerings include a high-performing ProLiant server AND the HP Insight Control suite - and can NOW be ordered as a single SKU/part number. Additionally, customers who choose to buy these bundles with a ProLiant DL360 G6 or DL380 G6 server will save an additional 20 percent off the price of an individual ICE software license. Learn more at www.hp.com/go/insightcontrol You can see the value and savings is tremendous. Be cool and order your next ProLiant server bundled with ICE and save big!

And to get the most out of your HP Insight Control suite, take advantage of HP Education Services, which are available to help train you and your staff on the fundamentals and advanced capabilities of ICE. Learn more at http://h10076.www1.hp.com/education/hp_ice_curriculum.htm

The ROI on power savings alone makes the new HP ProLiant G6 servers worth looking at...

aimeeschoaf — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 03:41:00 GMT

By Nick Vanderzweep

Director of Product Management, HP Insight Software

OK, we just announced our new HP ProLiant G6 servers and I was told they use a lot less power, are a much better virtualization platform, and let you spend less money without sacrificing service levels for your customers. These topics all strike a deep chord with most of us, especially during these tough economic times.

But is this true? Will they really make a dent in a typical ROI? I decided to put the G6 servers to the test. I had some scenarios run though our Insight Dynamics - VSE capacity planning SW using real customer data and the results will really knock your socks off. Here's roughly what we found:

We took real utilization data that was shared with us from one of our customers on 55 of their older servers; and
Ran that data through Insight Dynamics - VSE's "Smart Solver" module to see how they might work when consolidated onto virtual machines running on the new G6 platforms

The results were amazing based on power consumption alone! Here's how it broke down in terms of rough numbers:

We were able to predict that this customer could get a consolidation ratio of about 11:1 with G6, without compromising application horsepower or end-user service levels in any way;
Average power consumption went from about 12.8 kilowatts to 1 kilowattfor the new scenario; and
The savings on reduced power consumption alone was about $1,100 per month, without even yet considering the beneficial effect of reduced software licenses, less foot-print, and so forth.

I expected pretty good results given the "more-bang-for-less-power" message around G6, but -- WOW -- they still amazed me. Your mileage may vary, but I recommend you run your configurations thru our Insight Dynamics - VSE software to give you a confident estimate what your savings might be. Like me, I think you will find that the new G6 servers are way "cooler" than you already imagined.

Energy Star for Servers - Get the scoop on who's got it and who doesn't

s_mathur — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:45:00 GMT

By Lauren Trost, Product Marketing Manager, Power Supplies

The topic on everyone's mind is ENERGY EFFICIENCY and rightfully so. Energy costs have reached the point that power and cooling a data center is almost as costly as the equipment inside. IT managers can look for guidance from 80 PLUS, the EPA, and other regulatory bodies to direct them to the most efficient products. The newest 80 PLUS program is a unique forum and regulatory body that unites electric utilities, the computer industry and consumers in an effort to bring energy efficient technology solutions to the marketplace.

HP took leadership with the 80 PLUS program when it shipped the first 80 PLUS Gold certified, 92% efficient power supply for Blades. In our latest launch we introduced our high efficiency power supplies for our ProLiant servers, which means that HP ships the broadest portfolio of 80 PLUS gold compatible servers in the market!

But no other symbol is more recognizable for energy efficiency than Energy Star. But when can we expect to see ENERGY STAR servers on the market? The answer is very soon. The EPA is expected to publish the specifications in mid-2009. The EPA states, "HP has been working with the EPA on developing an ENERGY STAR Computer Server specification and plans on offering models that meet the requirements when the specifications are published."

Stay tuned to this blog for the announcement of the EPA specifications and for a list of all the HP servers that qualify to be in the elite group of energy efficient servers. You can also visit www.hp.com/go/proliant-energy-efficient or the ENERGY STAR website at www.energystar.gov for updates on approved platforms.